rschel to come to the Court, that
the King might learn what his achievement actually was from the
discoverer's own lips. Herschel brought with him one of his telescopes,
and he provided himself with a chart of the solar system, with which to
explain precisely wherein the significance of the discovery lay. The
King was greatly interested in Herschel's narrative, and not less in
Herschel himself. The telescope was erected at Windsor, and, under the
astronomer's guidance, the King was shown Saturn and other celebrated
objects. It is also told how the ladies of the Court the next day asked
Herschel to show them the wonders which had so pleased the King. The
telescope was duly erected in a window of one of the Queen's apartments,
but when evening arrived the sky was found to be overcast with clouds,
and no stars could be seen. This was an experience with which Herschel,
like every other astronomer, was unhappily only too familiar. But it is
not every astronomer who would have shown the readiness of Herschel in
escaping gracefully from the position. He showed to his lady pupils the
construction of the telescope; he explained the mirror, and how he had
fashioned it and given the polish; and then, seeing the clouds were
inexorable, he proposed that, as he could not show them the real Saturn,
he should exhibit an artificial one as the best substitute. The
permission granted, Herschel turned the telescope away from the sky, and
pointed it towards the wall of a distant garden. On looking into the
telescope there was Saturn, his globe and his system of rings, so
faithfully shown that, says Herschel, even a skilful astronomer might
have been deceived. The fact was that during the course of the day
Herschel saw that the sky would probably be overcast in the evening, and
he had provided for the emergency by cutting a hole in a piece of
cardboard, the shape of Saturn, which was then placed against the
distant garden wall, and illuminated by a lamp at the back.

This visit to Windsor was productive of consequences momentous to
Herschel, momentous to science. He had made so favourable an impression,
that the King proposed to create for him the special appointment of
King's Astronomer at Windsor. The King was to provide the means for
erecting the great telescopes, and he allocated to Herschel a salary of
L200 a year, the figures being based, it must be admitted, on a somewhat
moderate estimate of the requirements of an astronomer's househo